In many cultures, including American folk lore, cats are thought to steal children's breath. To suck, suffocate, the life out of babes. More specifically, when the child is asleep and the cat is sitting/lying upon on the child's chest. It's in the same vein as the eye penny (coins) lore. The flying monkeys occurred in the Wizard of Oz. And, it turns out, Dorothy was dreaming the whole movie. Bloodsuckers are underneath his bed and the the breath stealer is on top of his bed, so at every turn there's someone or something waiting to drain him. Drain him of his energy, youth, vitality, kindness, innocence, whatever a soul has to give.
The black fumes being gently bled is how slowly your time ticks away. That it's not sudden, it eases you into a false sense of security. But at the end of the day, it's BLACK FUMES! And if you'd taken the time to notice, might've alarmed you.
To me, this song is about childhood's end and the realization of moving towards death everyday. Of sleeping, dreaming = childhood. Waking up = growing up, getting older, realizing death can happen at any time.
About being able to return to that childhood place of buried memories again - but only in dreams.
I don't have the lyrics, but I think it says, "Black fumes of soot so gently bled." Instead of "skin."
The best thing about poems & lyrics is the way it has a different tone, a different meaning for everyone.
@Keeton Going off of your take of the song, which I definitely agree with the most,I just want to offer a more simplistic interpretation of the lines you mentioned:
@Keeton Going off of your take of the song, which I definitely agree with the most,I just want to offer a more simplistic interpretation of the lines you mentioned:
"Blood suckers hide beneath my bed
And black fumes of skin so gently bled
I slept with a cat on my breast
Slowing my heart stealing my breath
"Blood suckers hide beneath my bed
And black fumes of skin so gently bled
I slept with a cat on my breast
Slowing my heart stealing my breath
At sunrise the monkeys will fly"
At sunrise the monkeys will fly"
While I agree with other people that say the general gist of the song has to do with dying in some sense and then returning, I also can't help but connect this imagery, as...
While I agree with other people that say the general gist of the song has to do with dying in some sense and then returning, I also can't help but connect this imagery, as well as the folklore you mentioned -- to sleep paralysis -- which a lot of people these days seem to think the myth of cats stealing the breath of babies might have come from (it's very common for new mothers to have sleep paralysis, and within these experiences to hallucinate cats that are either stealing their breath, or the breath of their newborn children, or both).
The "bloodsuckers hide beneath my bed" also seems to echo this sleep paralysis imagery, and I think that Mark Linkous would absolutely have been familiar with this phenomenon, since we know that he almost died from taking a combination of drugs that are known to exaccerbate the symptoms of sleep paralysis, and even bring it out in people that otherwise would not experience it (I personally have experienced this phenomenon when taking sedatives like Linkous did, up to and including these shadowy cats sitting on my chest and stealing my breath).
Just something I thought was worth mentioning, and which my sister and I, long suffers of sleep paralysis, always associated these lyrics with (especially when my sister gave birth to my nephew a couple years ago, and had some of the worst episodes of this terrifying sleep disorder to date during that time period).
Perhaps others who have experienced this spooky phenomenon will be able to make some sense of what I'm trying to get at here, or so I hope, anyway.
Also, I forgot to mention (and wish this site had an edit function for comments) that the "At sunrise the monkeys will fly" also hits close to home for me, and could be interpreted as coming out of this state of sleep paralysis and seeing these so-called "flying monkeys" or whatever other form that these shadowy entities tend to manifest, dissapate when you finally wake up and snap out of the experience.
Also, I forgot to mention (and wish this site had an edit function for comments) that the "At sunrise the monkeys will fly" also hits close to home for me, and could be interpreted as coming out of this state of sleep paralysis and seeing these so-called "flying monkeys" or whatever other form that these shadowy entities tend to manifest, dissapate when you finally wake up and snap out of the experience.
Anyone who has had these experiences or is familiar with the phenomenon should know what I'm talking about... and if you are not familiar,...
Anyone who has had these experiences or is familiar with the phenomenon should know what I'm talking about... and if you are not familiar, check out the documentary "The Nightmare" which is currently on Netflix, at least in my country. It's very insightful on this age-old phenomenon and how it relates to this old folklore of cats and "bloodsuckers"/demons sitting on people's chests, taking their breath, etc.
In many cultures, including American folk lore, cats are thought to steal children's breath. To suck, suffocate, the life out of babes. More specifically, when the child is asleep and the cat is sitting/lying upon on the child's chest. It's in the same vein as the eye penny (coins) lore. The flying monkeys occurred in the Wizard of Oz. And, it turns out, Dorothy was dreaming the whole movie. Bloodsuckers are underneath his bed and the the breath stealer is on top of his bed, so at every turn there's someone or something waiting to drain him. Drain him of his energy, youth, vitality, kindness, innocence, whatever a soul has to give. The black fumes being gently bled is how slowly your time ticks away. That it's not sudden, it eases you into a false sense of security. But at the end of the day, it's BLACK FUMES! And if you'd taken the time to notice, might've alarmed you.
To me, this song is about childhood's end and the realization of moving towards death everyday. Of sleeping, dreaming = childhood. Waking up = growing up, getting older, realizing death can happen at any time. About being able to return to that childhood place of buried memories again - but only in dreams.
I don't have the lyrics, but I think it says, "Black fumes of soot so gently bled." Instead of "skin."
The best thing about poems & lyrics is the way it has a different tone, a different meaning for everyone.
@Keeton Going off of your take of the song, which I definitely agree with the most,I just want to offer a more simplistic interpretation of the lines you mentioned:
@Keeton Going off of your take of the song, which I definitely agree with the most,I just want to offer a more simplistic interpretation of the lines you mentioned:
"Blood suckers hide beneath my bed And black fumes of skin so gently bled I slept with a cat on my breast Slowing my heart stealing my breath
"Blood suckers hide beneath my bed And black fumes of skin so gently bled I slept with a cat on my breast Slowing my heart stealing my breath
At sunrise the monkeys will fly"
At sunrise the monkeys will fly"
While I agree with other people that say the general gist of the song has to do with dying in some sense and then returning, I also can't help but connect this imagery, as...
While I agree with other people that say the general gist of the song has to do with dying in some sense and then returning, I also can't help but connect this imagery, as well as the folklore you mentioned -- to sleep paralysis -- which a lot of people these days seem to think the myth of cats stealing the breath of babies might have come from (it's very common for new mothers to have sleep paralysis, and within these experiences to hallucinate cats that are either stealing their breath, or the breath of their newborn children, or both).
The "bloodsuckers hide beneath my bed" also seems to echo this sleep paralysis imagery, and I think that Mark Linkous would absolutely have been familiar with this phenomenon, since we know that he almost died from taking a combination of drugs that are known to exaccerbate the symptoms of sleep paralysis, and even bring it out in people that otherwise would not experience it (I personally have experienced this phenomenon when taking sedatives like Linkous did, up to and including these shadowy cats sitting on my chest and stealing my breath).
Just something I thought was worth mentioning, and which my sister and I, long suffers of sleep paralysis, always associated these lyrics with (especially when my sister gave birth to my nephew a couple years ago, and had some of the worst episodes of this terrifying sleep disorder to date during that time period).
Perhaps others who have experienced this spooky phenomenon will be able to make some sense of what I'm trying to get at here, or so I hope, anyway.
Also, I forgot to mention (and wish this site had an edit function for comments) that the "At sunrise the monkeys will fly" also hits close to home for me, and could be interpreted as coming out of this state of sleep paralysis and seeing these so-called "flying monkeys" or whatever other form that these shadowy entities tend to manifest, dissapate when you finally wake up and snap out of the experience.
Also, I forgot to mention (and wish this site had an edit function for comments) that the "At sunrise the monkeys will fly" also hits close to home for me, and could be interpreted as coming out of this state of sleep paralysis and seeing these so-called "flying monkeys" or whatever other form that these shadowy entities tend to manifest, dissapate when you finally wake up and snap out of the experience.
Anyone who has had these experiences or is familiar with the phenomenon should know what I'm talking about... and if you are not familiar,...
Anyone who has had these experiences or is familiar with the phenomenon should know what I'm talking about... and if you are not familiar, check out the documentary "The Nightmare" which is currently on Netflix, at least in my country. It's very insightful on this age-old phenomenon and how it relates to this old folklore of cats and "bloodsuckers"/demons sitting on people's chests, taking their breath, etc.